


You're the Horse Girl, Aren't You?

by TagTheScullion



Series: Camp Jupiter Confidential: a Series of Short Stories [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Gen, Jason is a good leader, Other, jason remembered hazel, so i can assume they at least spent a little time together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:22:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24991492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TagTheScullion/pseuds/TagTheScullion
Summary: Hazel knew Nico couldn't stay in Camp Jupiter forever, but his departure leaves her alone in a world of strangers.
Relationships: Jason Grace & Hazel Levesque
Series: Camp Jupiter Confidential: a Series of Short Stories [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764232
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	You're the Horse Girl, Aren't You?

Hazel gaped as her newly found (half) brother vanished in the shadows of a bush off the Via Praetoria.

What was she supposed to do all alone? Didn’t he know how dangerous it was to abandon siblings to strangers?

“Don’t worry,” the Centurion, Gwen, said, noticing her damp eyes.

It was useless. The moment her brother disappeared completely, Hazel felt her heart clench and the warmth of her tears sliding down her cheeks.

Gwen had been startled by Nico’s… way of transportation, Hazel could read it off her face, but she was looking at her with concealed pity. Hazel didn’t like nor want pity, which didn’t exactly help her stop the tears.

She took a step backwards as the Centurion tried to put a hand on her shoulder. Nico might’ve assured her America was different, but she didn’t feel comfortable surrounded by people she’d met the day before.

She saw Gwen’s face turn slightly sour, and her subtle scan of the surrounding areas hoping to find someone to help her.

Luckily for both Hazel and Gwen, they weren’t alone.

“What’s going on?”

Hazel raised her eyes to meet the worried face of Jason Grace, the Praetor of the Twelfth Legion Fulminata, and probably the last person who could help.

“Her brother had to leave,” Gwen explained. Hazel felt a thread of gratefulness, she could’ve just said ‘Her brother just got eaten by that elderberry bush’s shadow’ and things would’ve been even more uncomfortable.

“Oh,” Jason said. “Okay. Gwen, that’s fine, go back to your activities.”

 _‘I’ll handle the crying daughter of Pluto,’_ he didn’t add.

Gwen nodded with relief and gave Hazel an awkward little wave before disappearing almost as fast as Nico had.

Jason didn’t try to touch her, he stood as straight as a Colonel and gestured for Hazel to follow him up the Via Praetoria, into the barracks.

“You’re in the Fifth,” he stated. “I was from there, too.”

Hazel knew, of course. Everyone knew how Jason Grace had grown from lousy Fifth Cohort nobody into their brave, heroic praetor. To Hazel he looked like any other white boy, thinking a bad Cohort was enough to claim the ‘tragic backstory’ card.

“We have to prepare your bunk for revision,” Jason told her. “Every morning a couple of legionaries will be checking it. We have rotations, so it’s not always the same people.”

Hazel said nothing. The tears had stopped, but the tracks they’d left hadn’t dried yet.

“A couple of years ago we didn’t do that,” Jason kept going. He glimpsed at her every so often, but he didn’t force eye contact. “And Octavian was in charge of revision. He failed the Second and Fifth Cohorts every day for seven weeks before they stopped him.”

“Why?” Hazel froze. She didn’t mean to talk to Jason. She didn’t want to talk to anyone, and she didn’t need help finding her own bunk in the barracks.

Jason hesitated for only a fraction of a second, in which Hazel caught a trace of triumph in his ever-present smile.

“He hates me,” he said casually. “He hates any Cohort that isn’t his,” he clarified. “But he dislikes me particular. And by extension, he can’t stand Reyna, ergo the Second got the same treatment.”

“And he was allowed to do that?”

Jason shrugged, “The other Cohorts weren’t about to _complain_. Worst Cohorts get the worst duties, so those would fall on us, and they didn’t have to get their hands dirty.”

“Who stopped him?” Hazel asked.

“Reyna,” Jason said simply. Hazel liked that about him. The few times Hazel had heard him –and on the many stories she’d been told about him– he gave credit where it was due. “She never told me exactly what she did, but she definitely threatened him to shove her toothbrush right up his…”

He stopped in his tracks, he seemed to remember he was the head of their bureaucracy and shouldn’t be saying things that would make the nuns in Hazel’s old school blush.

“Anyhow, I’ll show you how to tidy up,” Jason finished happily.

Hazel looked up, she hadn’t realised, but they were right in front of the Fifth’s barracks.

“I know how to make a bed,” Hazel tried to keep the attitude in her voice to a minimum. Her mother had told her not to sass her superiors, that could only land her in trouble.

“I don’t mind,” Jason insisted. “Have you ever been to military school?”

Hazel huffed, “Those aren’t for girls.”

“Then you don’t know how _we_ make the beds,” Jason remarked. He opened the door for her, “I don’t know how normal people make beds. I have been here since forever. But I know it’s not the same way, no one can get it right at first.”

He prattled on, and Hazel acknowledged that he’d let her take the lead. She walked straight to her bunk.

The bed wasn’t messy, but it wasn’t done properly either. Definitely not done the ‘military school way’.

“Revision’s in three minutes!” a voice yelled from the room’s doorway.

Jason made a face.

“Let’s hurry, then,” he ripped the bed sheets off the mattress. “The fitted sheet goes just the same way, make sure there’s no wrinkles.”

Hazel helped him on her side.

“Then the top sheet is the different bit,” he explained quickly, motioning for her to join him on his side.

He made the bed swiftly as he spoke, losing no time, but making sure she was following. Explaining how to fold the corners so the bed wouldn’t have any visible wrinkles. Apparently, Romans didn’t like wrinkles.

By the time the voice from before warned them the revision was beginning, Hazel’s bed was neatly made, and par with all of the others.

“Not bad,” the girl who was in charge of the inspection mumbled. “Not bad at all, new girl.”

Jason winked at her from behind the girl.

“And what are _you_ doing here?”

The praetor’s smile vanished like smoke, “Octavian,” he muttered, turning around. “Stuck with revision duty?”

The Augur took a few steps towards Jason, and although Hazel knew he was older, the son of Jupiter towered a good four or five inches over him.

Octavian sneered, “You’re supposed to be helping Praetor Ramírez run this camp smoothly. Not worry over your former Cohort’s… newest recruit.”

Jason’s expression had solidified back into a polite façade, minus the sunny smile.

“One of our tasks as praetors is to make sure every legionary feels welcome,” he reminded the older boy. “And to go over the rules with them, if the situation requires it.”

_If looks could kill._

But the Augur seemed to realize it wasn’t wise to probe their praetor further.

“I see your brother is gone,” Octavian turned to Hazel. “Is our sacred legion not enough for the likes of him?” he scanned her personal space as if hoping to get clues for a game she wasn’t playing. “Or does he belong to somewhere else, perhaps?”

Jason rolled his eyes, unseen by the Augur. He squared his shoulders, not to become a threat, Hazel guessed, but to command respect from their misguided comrade.

“Are you suggesting the Ambassador of Pluto’s job isn’t important?” Jason asked, putting himself between Octavian and Hazel. “That his loyalty is to be doubted? Maybe you should try to call the god himself, demand answers from him instead, accuse his son of treason, while you’re at it.”

That shut Octavian up. No one wanted to annoy Pluto. Not for information, and especially not to shame his children.

“Come on,” the girl who’d been inspecting with him interrupted. “Barracks are fine, eight out of ten because someone just hid their trash under the bed.”

She took a fuming Octavian out of the place. Hazel felt everyone present release a sigh of relief.

“He’s something,” Dakota said, joining her and Jason. “It’s good to have you here again, Grace. How’s everything up in the Praetor’s house?”

Jason’s face had gone back to his usual easy self, but for the first time Hazel noticed that it wasn’t as sincere as she’d first guessed.

“Oh, you know,” he waved a hand vaguely. “Reyna says I’m a mess, but you should see the office! I woke up yesterday to seven, _seven_ cups of coffee!”

Dakota, who if Hazel didn’t know was high on Kool Aid, she would’ve definitely predicted to be a caffeine addict, nodded in understanding.

“Is everything really as messy as the rumors say?”

Jason shrugged, “We survived a war. We’re the lucky ones.”

Dakota nodded again –or maybe his head just bobbed because of the overwhelming energy— and left to join Gwen.

Jason put his attention back on Hazel, “You like the pegasi, don’t you?”

Hazel wondered if he paid that much attention to every new probation, or if he’d been particularly interested in the girl the Ambassador of Pluto had dropped in his doorstep.

“Horses are easy to handle,” she said.

He shook his head, “They hate me. Reyna actually sent me to make sure the stables are being taken care of. Do you mind giving me a hand with the unicorns?”

Hazel allowed a grudging smile for the praetor, “The unicorns hate you?”

“It’s like the opposite of a super power,” he guided her out of the barracks. “They once tried to trample me.”

“No way!”

“They did, Gwen still reminds me from time to time,” Jason insisted. “Whenever she feels my ego is growing too much.”

Hazel didn’t doubt his ego could grow exponentially, he was still a white boy. But as far as authority figures went, Jason was okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Might add another chapter later on, where the unicorns actually appear.
> 
> For now, it's just Jason being nice to the new kid, and Hazel trying to make friends in the modern world she finds herself in.


End file.
